How do I upgrade hardrive?

[toogoodius]

I have an old Macbook (previous generation, black). 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo.

I recently upgraded the ram to 3GB which I am led to believe is the maximum I can do.

But I only have a 120GB and it is always nearly full. The machine seems slow at times and I am attributing this to the nearly full drive...

I've moved off the stuff I don't really need, to an off board drive, so what I need to know is....

Is it easy to change the hard drive ie can I do it without tools/ expertise?
I use OS X 10.5.8 and I use the Time Machine. So, can I just drag all my files on to that and then drag them on to a new hard drive when installed?

Any advice, or top tips, or warnings will be very gratefully recieved.
Thanks, Colin

 

[guydude193]

I think that the old plastic non-unibody MacBooks can upgrade to 4GBs of RAM. Make sure that you didn't put a stick of 1GB and then another stick of 2GB in, because uneven RAM can screw up your machine.

 

[blackburn]

It's very easy don't worry
http://www.macinstruct.com/node/130

 

[spinnerlys]

Hard Drive replacement guide on iFixIt
MacBook manuals, which contain instructions too


Use CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to clone your old HDD to the new HDD (in an external USB enclosure for 2.5" HDDs), then switch the HDDs and you're done.

If you use Time Machine you need the Restore DVDs and can restore your OS from that Time Machine backup, drag and drop will not work. It takes longer too though.

CCC and SuperDuper are almost always recommended in the thousands of already existing threads about that particular issue.

 

[GfulDedFan]

Make sure that you didn't put a stick of 1GB and then another stick of 2GB in, because uneven RAM can screw up your machine.

Well....it won't screw it up but it won't take advantage of Dual Channel performance gain. If the OP were to put in 2 x 2GB chips, he would in effect have roughly 3.3GB of RAM usage because of the dual channeling. Probably wouldn't notice the difference.

 

[toogoodius]

Well....it won't screw it up but it won't take advantage of Dual Channel performance gain. If the OP were to put in 2 x 2GB chips, he would in effect have roughly 3.3GB of RAM usage because of the dual channeling. Probably wouldn't notice the difference.

This is interesting as I have just checked and I do indeed have a 1GB chip and a 2GB chip. I was advised by the Apple store on Regent ST!

Now, I'm a bit concerned so any more advice/ opinions on this?!

 

[gnasher729]

This is interesting as I have just checked and I do indeed have a 1GB chip and a 2GB chip. I was advised by the Apple store on Regent ST!

Now, I'm a bit concerned so any more advice/ opinions on this?!

There will be a _tiny_ disadvantage in speed compared to 2GB + 2GB. On the other hand, the early MacBooks cannot actually use 4GB, only somethine like 3.3GB. So you paid for 3GB and can use 3GB, or you could have paid for 4GB and have used 3.3GB. Especially if you already had a 1GB chip and only had to buy an additional 2GB that would have been good advice.

 

[GfulDedFan]

This is interesting as I have just checked and I do indeed have a 1GB chip and a 2GB chip. I was advised by the Apple store on Regent ST!

Now, I'm a bit concerned so any more advice/ opinions on this?!

Absolutely no need for concern. It's unfortunate that a previous poster caused you concern when it's unwarranted. Your MacBook will function fine with the installed RAM. A MacBook does not need to have a matched pair of RAM chips installed and will even work with only one slot filled and the other empty.

 

[toogoodius]

Absolutely no need for concern. It's unfortunate that a previous poster caused you concern when it's unwarranted. Your MacBook will function fine with the installed RAM. A MacBook does not need to have a matched pair of RAM chips installed and will even work with only one slot filled and the other empty.

Coool! Thanks.